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Colangelo's resignation reminds of father's ousting

Andrew Joseph
Published 1:56 p.m. ET June 7, 2018

Philadelphia 76ers accepted the resignation of former president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo on Thursday after the team concluded his wife likely ran a series of anonymous Twitter accounts that criticized team personnel and disclosed sensitive team information.

Bryan's father, Jerry, was the chairman of the Arizona Diamondbacks and helped bring a baseball team to Phoenix. He gets credited for giving Phoenix its only major sports championship - the Diamondbacks' 2001 World Series title.

Three years after that title, Jerry was forced out of his Diamondbacks ownership, and azcentral sports' Nick Piecoro detailed those odd circumstances in 2014.

Jerry spent much of his Diamondbacks tenure bleeding money and making questionable financial decisions. According to Piecoro, when Jerry left the team, the Diamondbacks suffered more than $353 million in losses and $254 million more in deferred salaries. The stadium situation didn't help either, via azcentral sports:

And, arguably, the club made mistakes. Most believe the 48,633-capacity ballpark was built too big, with too many upper-deck seats that were the most expensive to install and the cheapest to sell. Even in the first year the team spent unnecessarily on player payroll.

After attendance declined by 25 percent from the Diamondbacks' inaugural season, Jerry grew impatient with a long-term plan that relied on building a farm system. Instead, the Diamondbacks became major spenders on the free-agent market. Jerry had to make cash calls to other partners.

After adding aces Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, striking gold in Luis Gonzalez and augmenting the roster with other veterans, the Diamondbacks went on to win the 2001 World Series. But their payroll went from $32 million in 1998 to $80 million in 2000. By 2002, the club was north of $100 million in player salaries.

There were cash calls from ownership along the way, one of which left Colangelo exposed. It came with strings attached: With three votes from the club's five-man general partnership, Colangelo, who owned just a small fraction of the team, would be out as managing general partner.

And despite running the Diamondbacks into a dire financial situation, Jerry survived that. It took selecting journeyman infielder Stephen Drew at No. 15 in the 2004 draft for Jerry to be shown the door.

Sources say the selection of Drew put into motion Colangelo's ouster. Incidentally, the Diamondbacks wound up signing Drew nearly a year later to a contract that was deemed acceptable by Major League Baseball's Labor Relations Department.

Colangelo would go on to become the director of USA Basketball. As of Thursday, he still serves as special advisor to the 76ers.